A propaedeutic course in the 2024-2025 academic year: A strategic action to increase university retention

Abstract

This paper describes the experience developed during the 2024-2025 academic year. Using previous experimental practices and the criteria of students who have dropped out of CUJAE as a reference, the program extends the development of a preparatory course for new students enrolled in daytime courses in all majors and short-term programs to the entire university. It includes a description of this course, the results of its implementation, an evaluation of the course, and recommendations for its improvement.
This outcome responds to a sector-wide program that develops a set of actions that contribute to the fulfillment of the strategy to be followed in engineering programs in Cuba, to promote retention and minimize student dropout, as well as to propose these actions to the Ministry of Higher Education for generalization. The proposal described in this paper constitutes a curricular pedagogical practice that contributes to the purpose of this project.